Indians earn victory in battle with McClain
Hillsboro's Judd McKenzie (left) fights for possession of the ball against McClain's Gavin Stephens on Tuesday at HHS. (HCP Photo/Stephen Forsha)
HILLSBORO — Both the McClain Tigers and Hillsboro Indians played strong on Tuesday evening at Hillsboro High School, where it was the Indians gaining the one-goal win over the visiting McClain Tigers, 1-0.
The night saw no goals scored in the first half, as it was Hillsboro controlling possession of the ball for most of the opening 40 minutes, though the Tigers had some opportunities as they fought hard against the Indians.
The second half saw the only goal scored with 33:26 when freshman Judd McKenzie put the ball into the corner of the net past the keeper, off an assist by junior Easton Inman, who initially went for a shot that deflected off the keeper, which McKenzie kicked for the aforementioned goal. McKenzie now has two goals this season, as Inman has two assists thus far this year.
“Assistant coach Mav [Ward], he told the boys at half to keep shooting hard and get a deflection, and well, that was good coaching there,” Hillsboro head coach Ben Howland said. “That’s how it happened. Easton put a nice hit on it, and Judd just put it away.”
Hillsboro sophomore Owen Davis made his return to the goal this season after recovering from a broken hand, as he finished with six saves. Late in the second half against the Tigers, Davis made a big save with 4:10 left in the match, then with 1:48 left, Davis had another big save which kept the Indians ahead by one goal.
“It has been a little rough, but we have been playing better. We are getting healthy, and our goalie (Davis) this was his first game back, so it was good to see him get a shutout his first game back,” Howland said. “We revamped everything. We put some guys on defense. Seniors Bailey and Shepard, we put them back there and they shut everything down.
“We also had (Tyler) Bender and Preston Quenneville and Mason Rinal and of course one of our captains, Cam Evers. Everytime we play these guys (McClain) it is 1-0, 2-1 … it is a good Highland County rivalry.”
The Indians now stand at 1-2-0 in the FAC and 2-6-1 overall. McClain now stands at 1-5-1 overall and 0-2-0 in the FAC.
Next for McClain is an away match on Thursday, Sept. 24 against the Miami Trace Panthers (1-2-0, 6-3-0) at 7 p.m.
Hillsboro is scheduled to play next on Thursday, Sept. 24 at home against the Jackson Ironmen (3-0-0, 7-0-1) at 7 p.m.
BOX SCORE
MHS 0 0 — 0
HHS 0 1 — 1